Characters
Characters of the Divine Comedy
Explore the protagonists and figures Dante meets on his journey.
| Personaggio | Tipologia | Menzioni | Versi collegati | Descrizione |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amphiaraus | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Seer of classical antiquity, one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes, remembered for having been swallowed by a chasm during the war. |
| Amphion | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Mythological poet recalled by Dante as the builder, with the help of the Muses, of the walls of Thebes, a figure whose step Dante echoes in the prologue of Canto XXXII of the Inferno. |
| Angeli | Deity | 1 | 1 | The Angeli constitute the last of the nine angelic hierarchies cited by Dante, called the «Angelici ludi» in the heaven of the Primum Mobile. |
| Angiolello | Unclassified | 1 | 1 | Character mentioned in Canto XXVIII of the Inferno, recalled by a damned soul next to messer Guido among the victims of a feud. |
| Anna | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | Anna is mentioned by Dante in Paradiso, where she is placed next to Peter in the seat of the blessed. |
| Hannibal | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 2 | Carthaginian commander cited by Dante as an adversary of Rome in the Second Punic War, remembered for the defeat suffered at the hands of Scipio at Zama. |
| Anselmuccio | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Son of Ugolino della Gherardesca's eldest son, he is the youngest of the count's two grandsons, imprisoned with him in the tower of the Muda and dead of starvation after the fifth day. |
| Antenori | Mythological | 1 | 1 | The Antenori are the Paduans, so called as descendants of Antenor, founder of their city; in the Purgatorio verse the pilgrim recalls having been killed in the Paduan territory, «in grembo a li Antenori» (in the lap of the Antenori). |
| Antaeus | Mythological | 1 | 3 | Classical giant of Canto XXXI of the Inferno, son of Neptune and Earth, unbound, who sets the two pilgrims down at the bottom of the infernal pit. |
| Antiphon | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | Antiphon is recalled by Dante among the Greek poets cited in Purgatorio XXII, together with Euripides, in a list that evokes the great authors of antiquity known only by name. |
| Antigone | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Daughter of Oedipus, recalled by Statius in the list of characters of the Thebaid, cited by Dante in Purgatorio among the "genti" of ancient epic poetry. |
| Apollo | Deity | 2 | 3 | God of classical myth invoked by Dante as the inspirer of poetry. Addressed as "buono Appollo" in the prologue of Paradise, he is the patron of the slope of Parnassus sacred to the divine component of song, distinct from the human one entrusted to the Muses. |
| Arachne | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Mythological figure of the Lydian weaver challenged by Minerva, remembered as an example of punished pride in Canto XII of Purgatorio, where Dante sees her now half spider intent on contemplating the shreds of her own web. |
| Archangels | Deity | 1 | 1 | The Archangels constitute, together with Principalities and Thrones, the third triad of the third angelic hierarchy in the Crystalline Heaven (Paradiso XXVIII). |
| Ardinghi | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Florentine family mentioned by Cacciaguida in the list of the ancient noble houses of Florence in the Heaven of Mars (Paradiso XVI). |
| Aretines | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | The people of Arezzo invoked by Dante in Canto XXII of the Inferno, where they are addressed in the plural while observing the departure of the devils of the tenth ditch. |
| Arethusa | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Arethusa is the mythological figure that Dante references in Inferno XXV, v. 97, mentioned alongside Cadmus as a subject of metamorphosis narrated by Ovid. |
| Argia | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Sister of Deifile and wife of Polynices, remembered by Statius in the Thebaid; Dante mentions her alongside Antigone and Deifile in Purgatory among the figures of Statius's epic poetry. |
| Argus | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Argus is mentioned in the Purgatorio as a guardian with all-seeing sight. His name appears alongside the image of the peacock's tail, whose feathers are described as full of eyes like those of the mythical guardian. |
| Aristotle | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | Ancient Greek philosopher recalled by Virgil alongside Plato as an example of the highest human intellect, whose thirst for knowledge is now punished as an eternal longing. |
| Aronta | Historical | 1 | 1 | Etruscan soothsayer recalled by Dante in Canto XX of the Inferno, described as carrying his beard over his shoulders among the damned soothsayers. |
| Harpies | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Mythological monsters with feminine faces and the bodies of birds of prey, described as "brutte" and characterized by their loathsomeness; they nest in the infernal wood of the second ring of the seventh circle. |
| Arrigo Mainardi | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Lord of Bertinoro cited by Guido del Duca in the Purgatorio as an example of the liberality and courteous lordship of the good old days in Romagna. |
| Arrigucci | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Florentine family recalled by Cacciaguida in the Heaven of Mars together with the Sizii among the extinct houses that once held the offices of the Commune in the time of his ancestors. |